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YOUNG GUY AT
WORK:This is my first recession. How
worried shoud I be?WALLY THE OLDER
WORKER:You'll be fine as long as you
don't have any hopes or dreams.
- First two frames of Dilbert Cartoon by Scott
Adams

Nothing is as inevitable as a recession whose time is long overdue. A recession is
obviously upon us, which means fewer corporate jobs and sinking consumer confidence. But a recession is not all
bad, trust me. I have lived through several.

There are many benefits of a recession that are overlooked by the majority. Economic turmoil can
bring out the worst … and the best … in people. If you want it to bring out the best in you, a recession is a
time to build some real character. Surviving happily through uncertain times takes courage and wisdom,
regardless of how much life insurance you have. Recessions are all about survival of the mentally
fit.

Whatever you sow, you reap. If you want to make the U.S. ecomonic recession a bad thing, it
becomes a bad thing. If you want to look at the U.S. economic recession as a good thing, it becomes a good thing
and you will become an expert on the benefits of an economic recession. Remember that the harvest you reap will
depend upon the seeds that you plant.

In adversity, there is always opportunity - at least for those individuals willing
to see it and motivated enough to capitalize on it. Indeed, the Chinese words for crisis and opportunity are the
same. This is why I have created a book called 101 Reasons to Love a
Recession.

The pessimist calls it
the "Depression." The optimist calls it the "Great Depression."
- Jim Martin in February 22 Mr.
Boffocartoon

Sure, the present U.S. recession has hit me economically on several fronts. For instance, my
international bestselling book How to Retire Happy, Wild,
and Freewhich has had sales of over 110,000 copies in the first 4
years has seen a drop in U.S. sales that surprised me, particularly on Amazon.com, simply because U.S house
prices have dropped dramatically and many U.S. baby boomers are consequently delaying retirement. This has
impacted my income quite a bit - but not for long because I intend to eventually benefit from this
recession and make even more income than I have been making.

I am also a little money short due to losses of about $50,000 in my retirement portfolio. In the
grand scheme of things, losing $50,000 is not that big a deal, however. In the recession of the early 1980s I
lost everything and recovered.

In a materialistic world, prosperity is unfortunately and invariably associated with hoards of
money and countless possessions.

To the truly prosperous people of this world, prosperity is prosperity in its purest and
original sense. Prosperity comes from the Latin word "spes", which means “hope and vigor.” To the truly
prosperous person, being prosperous means being positive and happy in the moment, regardless of the level of
wealth one has acquired.

Look for opportunities and you will find them, yes even in a recession. Trust me, the
benefits of a recession are there.

As reported in The Globe and
Mailon January 17, 2009, self-employment tends to swell when an
economy sours and people are thrown out of work. Yet economic research shows people forced into self-employment
after a layoff tend to make the most successful entrepreneurs.

These are the benefits of an economic recession according to Author and Motivational
Speaker Joshua Seth: "It (a recession) need not affect us negatively:

Many fortunes are made in
recessions.

Many families are brought together during tough
times.

Many faiths are renewed."

"Look for the silver lining. More fortunes are made during economic downturns than during
times of robust growth. Less people are looking for opportunity during times of economic hardship because their
basic human needs are not being met. With less competition comes greater opportunity."

Similarly on another website: "What do Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and Disney have in common?
They all started during economic downturns, as did more than half of the 30 companies that comprise the Dow Jones
Industrial Average."

Please God, just one more bubble, and I won't
be such a fool with my money again.
- Unknown wise person

Here are some of my insights to the benefits of a
recession:

Top-10 Benefits of a Recession That Are Party to the Book 101 Reasons to Love a
Recession

Over the last decade or two it's been hard for most Americans to tell
where dreams leave off and reality begins - which is, in fact, one of the major causes of the
recession. But the recession along with the credit crunch will bring more reality into their lives as they
realize that can no longer buy things with money they haven't earned and are unlikely ever to
earn.

As a pyschiatrist you can really milk your best accounts - the people who are paying - during a
recession because your patients are going to be coming in a lot more due to their depression from the fear
that the recession may become a depression.

Another way to tell when your life hasn't reached the peaks that you had
expected is when the Sheriffs come to throw you out of your foreclosed house. But look on the bright side.
You won't have to hire any of those expensive plumbers anymore.

Dire domestic financial consequences may finally get your nagging wife to leave you for some
pretentious rich guy. You can joyfully announce to your friends, "Some rich bloke stole my wife - and
to get even I let him keep her."

An economic recession is the best of times to put your
creativity and motivation to the test. Anybody can make it when times are good - but to make
it big during an economic downturn is the sign of someone truly innovative.

Perhaps you are one of those big-time promoters who has hit the skids.
Buy high, sell low - you really rode that silly strategy right into the toilet, didn't you. You can
still be grateful for your position in life, however, regardless of how much equity you lost. Putting
things in the best possible way, the bum you see by the junkyard still has it tougher than
you.

Many North Americans will finally lose a bit of weight because they will be forced to quit being so
piggish with their food. It's about time, given how sadly obese America has become.

A recesson is a great opportunity to put to rest the idea that retirees can consume themselves to
happiness by having a two or three-million-dollar portfolio and using it to purchase a fun-filled
retirement full of material goods and expensive activities such as exotic vacations. A severe recession
will help many people see that happiness can be experienced through engaging work, volunteering, helping
others, and spending more times with their friends.

It wasn't that long ago that Will Rogers advised, "Try to save money.
Someday it may be valuable again." The great thing is that recessions pressure individuals to reduce
spending and learn something about "saving" - which is a word that is foreign to many Americans
and Canadians, but soon won't be.

Talk about credit crazed - the average American household owns 13 credit cards, and 40 percent of
them carry a balance, up from 6 percent in 1970. The good news is that the no-money down mentality may not
be so pervasive any longer - hopefully it will be put to rest forever.

My family wasn't affected by the
crash of '29. They went broke in '28.
- Gerald Barzan

From a Squidoo Lens Maker:

5 Benefits of a Recession:

It makes you wiser

It makes you think out of the box

It makes a decision maker out of you.

It makes you appreciate what you have.

It forces change

Here are the top-10 reasons to love a recession according to some serious-minded people who have
written about this on the Interent:

Top-10 Reasons to Love a RecessionAccording
to Jay McDonald at Bankrate.com:

Family dinners

Shorter gas lines

Less junk mail

More coupons

Free fitness

Bargain SUVs

Business startup opportunities

Growth in gardening

Musical inspiration

New perspectives

More Ways to Benefit from a
RecessionAccording tothe Other Internet Postings by
Various Media & Individuals

A recession is a great time to go back to school to upgrade your
education. A recession is temporary, an education is permanent.

If you are shoe maker or a tailor, you will have more work, taking in more peoples' shoes and trousers
at your business.

A comment after an article about the recession: "I love that there is
less traffic on the road. Hey, the air may even be cleaner!"

Time magazine recently speculated that the housing mess and contracting credit will
inspire Americans to live within their means. This could dispel a lot of people from the philosophy of,
"Who wants to wait until you can afford it to buy something?"

If you are a mechanic, you will have more work for years to come. Kiplinger recently
stated that auto repair shops are booming because consumers are putting off buying new cars.

This is a great time to have your house renovated. Contractors are bending over backward - even
for small jobs like bathroom renovations and cabinetry - as the housing slump infects the remodeling
industry. That gives homeowners the upper hand in price negotiations.

Falling house prices makes homes more affordable for people who have the
money to purchase them. What's more, it is much easier to find a house in a highly desirable
area.

Normally the fools and their money are separated when a downturn hits the economy and overlevereged
positions have to be closed out. It's always curious how these fools and their money got together in the
first place.

There will be fewer credit card offers in the mail, which will help curb the use of credit cards.

Another comment on a website: "To high income earners who once moaned incessantly about being 'cash
rich, time poor' but have now lost their jobs, you will be able to say: 'Congratulations! You’re now cash
poor, time rich. How does that feel?' "

Here are some more of my insights relating to the positive benefits of a
recession:

Benefits of a Recession That Didn't Quite Make the Top 101
Reasons to Love a Recession

At cocktail parties people used to brag about how much money they made in their investments. Now at
some cocktail parties people brag about how much money they lost. This means that you can be a big cheese if you squandered a huge fortune in
the stock market.

If you work in the factory making
SPAM (the canned so-called meat that most people hate but some people love), you are working a lot more
overtime because the factory can't keep up with the demand for low-priced meat that the recession has
created.What's more, you may be eating more SPAM
because of the recession - and if you love SPAM this is a great
thing.

Over the last decade or two it's been hard for most Americans to tell where dreams leave off and
reality begins - which is, in fact, one of the major causes of the recession. But the recession along
with the credit crunch will bring more reality into their lives as they realize that can no longer buy
things with money they haven't earned and are unlikely ever to earn.

If you think of yourself more a lover than a worker, the extra free time
that you gain during a recession can be put into steamy sexual encounters of the outrageous kind that would
even do Hugh Hefner proud.

As a person who doesn't like work and who instead likes to live off the
system on welfare and other government handouts, you now have a pretty solid excuse for not having a
job.

Even more important, if you get laid off, you have more time on your hands to get laid, something you
have been meaning to do for a long time, but have put off because you were working so many long and hard
hours.

Due to your being laid off, you no longer have to attend corporate meetings which were a colossal waste
of time notwithstanding that you were a person who didn't produce much anyway. That is why you were one of
the first employees to be laid off, wasn't it. The bright side is that your sense of helplessness about
being unemployed makes your uselessness seem unimportant.

A recession will stop the accumulation of excessive credit-card debt, and the myth encouraged by
dubious bankers and economists telling the public that "deficits and debt don't matter." One would think
these seasoned veterans should know better - in good times or bad.

If you are a drug dealer, you are getting a lot of satisfaction from seeing that many legitimate
businesess are finally seeing the light by adopting your important business principle of disallowing any
credit purchases and accepting "cash only" purchases.

Actually, this one has been borrowed from the blog of Dilbert creator Scott
Adams:America has become less arrogant than it was during the boom
times.

Ahh the sweet
sound of capitalism crashing, the fondest wish of my lifetime. Less money, less stuff, less
pollution - all good.
- Recession
Post by an Australian citizen in response to an article about how the recession was
affecting Australian
retirees

We are a very
inventive nation, but we often fail in the implementation. This [economic recession] will force or
encourage people to take good ideas and run with them.
- Elspeth Murray, Queen's Centre for Business
Venturing